Driving (Large) Electric

Back in 2022, I brought home a new 2023 Nissan Leaf S and I’ve had a blast driving it since. In hindsight, it was one of my best purchases in a long time– it’s super fun to drive, and other than tires/alignment it has required zero maintenance (not even refilling the wiper fluid!) in the 45 months that I’ve driven it almost 38K miles. It’s a great car. But. The Leaf’s range is not awesome. While its efficiency is high (I average 4.2 miles per KW), that’s partly achieved with a small 40KW battery pack, and the extremely limited fast-charger support (I’ve fast-charged perhaps 4 times) means that it’s completely impractical for road trips. It’s small. My 13yo now rides in the front seat, and my 10yo is pretty crammed in the back. It lacks features. No remote start or charge monitoring, no built-in CarPlay, small internal screen. Black cloth interior. As early as one year in after getting my Leaf, I was already thinking about upgrading to something bigger in a year or two. I was excited…